Posted on 02/06/2006 11:05:54 PM PST by neverdem
By using a compressed air cannon, LAPD can blast a RFID tag onto a suspect's car, and track it with radio-transmitted GPS from a distance.
The company behind the technology, StarChase, calls it "real-time tagging and tracking pursuit management." Los Angeles Police Department Chief William Bratton calls it "incredible technology," according to a report on NBC4.tv. "Let them run, we'll just basically track them to wherever they finally dump the car," Bratton said in an interview with the station.
StarChase said on its website there are more than 100,000 high-speed chases each year, which endanger everyone in the area of the pursuit.
With the technology, the police can sit back at a distance and follow the vehicle, while coordinated efforts ahead of the pursuit can be put into position to stop a fleeing car.
The signal from the tag bounces off a satellite to a secure web server, where dispatchers can watch the vehicle's movements in real time. Importantly, StarChase said their solution "is also court-admissible and preserves the chain of evidence."
The first big test will come in Los Angeles, as LAPD begins using it later in 2006. Bratton sees the StarChase solution as one that will help increase officer safety and reduce those high speed pursuits. "We're very optimistic that this might be one of the next big ideas in American policing," he said in the story.
---By using a compressed air cannon, LAPD can blast a RFID tag onto a suspect's car, and track it with radio-transmitted GPS from a distance.---
But if you can do that, you could hit it with a white phosphorus grenade, couldn't you? That could be a serious deterrent to running from the cops, plus it would make for good 6 o'clock news ratings! :^)
They are mixing RFID and GPS? These are two separate technologies. RFID only works to about 12 feet.
I believe you're correct.
RFID only works to about 12 feet.
"By using a compressed air cannon," they might be able to affix a RFID gizmo that can transmit for a much greater range.
Then the guy in the trunk pops the lid, whips out his putty knife, and scrapes the tag off.
The bigger news here is the scanners that will activate the RFID tag.
"The bigger news here is the scanners that will activate the RFID tag."
Yep, with scanners placed every 12 ft all over L.A. , just why do they need GPS at all ?
Unless of course, the tag is 30 ft square and they simply stick it to the ground with it ....
So... after being "tagged", the perp just goes to the next intersection, hops out of the tagged vehicle, puts his roscoe up to the temple of another driver and speeds away in a fresh ride, starting the game all over again.
Wouldn't it be easier to just nail the vehicle with a highly directionalized EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) that would disable the control chip that most engines rely on?
Either that, or make your "Tag" interactive; let it track the perp until he was in a relatively remote area where the potential for colatteral casualty from a police confrontation or his ability to hijack another ride would be minimalized, and then remotely trigger a disabling electronic jolt to the vehicle's body.
Or to the perp, if he tried to remove it.
Either way works for me.
I don't like the idea of abandoning a chase and letting the perp go, even if he is being "tracked" - which I don't think would work all that well, really.
The longer he is allowed to operate in a reckless manner, regardless of whether he is being pursued, tracked, or not, the greater the risks to potential hostages and/or innocents who get in the way.
"Compressed air cannon" sounds like a big potato gun to me.
Why not use a simpler system, like a paintball cannon, to mark the vehicle and make it difficult for the perp to see where he's going?
Teargas paintballs to the windshield might get in through the vents too, causing the perp a little distraction.
How about bringing in the Fire Dept. to hose the guy down with foam as he goes through a roadblock? When he jumps out looking for a fight, nail him in the puss with the deluge gun.
125PSI down his gullet and up his nose ought to keep him all a-splutter 'till the Gendarmes catch up, don't you think?
Come to think of it, a 3" deluge gun set on full blast could probably blow a chased car right off the road, wouldn't you suppose?
The hydroplane effect might help, too.
Any Sparkies in here care to comment?
Or, by using existing technology:
By using a high-speed lead projectile, LAPD can blast it into a suspect, and track it by observing red drops of liquid found on the ground!
Oooh.. potential for colateral damage and injury to innocent drivers and peds if the perp smacks into something/someone he can't see at high speed.
How about bringing in the Fire Dept. to hose the guy down with foam as he goes through a roadblock? When he jumps out looking for a fight, nail him in the puss with the deluge gun.
125PSI down his gullet and up his nose ought to keep him all a-splutter 'till the Gendarmes catch up, don't you think?
Requires one to "know" where the perp is going to show up at a particular point in time, so you can have the apparatus set up and ready... or you take several fire companies out of service at the same time to set up on multiple intersections because you know how unstable the perps are during a chase and you know they could go anywhere. Very expensive, and the LAFD would probably howl about being "forced" to do "police work"...
Come to think of it, a 3" deluge gun set on full blast could probably blow a chased car right off the road, wouldn't you suppose?
Too much potential to blow the wrong car off the highway in traffic conditions, or to deflect the stolen car onto another road at ~100 MPH and causing a hazard on the other road.
The hydroplane effect might help, too.
Yeah, gives the defense lawyer another tool to use in an attempt to get the perp off.
The signal from the tag bounces off a satellite to a secure web server, where dispatchers can watch the vehicle's movements in real time.
Uhhh.. you know how much power/antenna you're going to need to get a signal up to a satellite? Probably a better way is to put receivers in all of the district cars so they'll know the vehicle is in range, and they can relay the telemetry that way.
This accomplishes the goal of reducing public injury by slowing down the perp(s) when the cops back off. Maybe they can recover the stolen cars intact. But the perps will be long gone by the time the cops find the car, and the forensics team and beat cops will have to find them the old-fashioned way.
Yeah; you're right; What with the Lawyers, Unions and all, they might as well just let 'em all go on their merry way and try not to offend anybody.
CA may be a wonderful place to live...
But I'm glad that I don't, frankly (not that ME is much better).
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